ABSTRACT
Whatever its other points of interest, the study of the Western Front in the Great War seldom presents the opportunity for a good laugh. But one of the few which may be almost guaranteed comes when the issue of British cavalry operations is raised. A firm consensus exists, and has grown in strength since the Great War itself, that the cavalry was in all respects useless. Its soldiers spent their time safely in the rear, wasting rations and playing cards, or else engaged in futile mass charges in close order against machine guns, only to be mown down and massacred. It really is a case of ‘damned if you do and damned if you don’t’ for the cavalrymen – they are either passive spectators to the fighting, or its most reckless and incompetent victims.
